petrol pumps

Our man in Havana

Why are the hold on devices broken off most petrol pumps? It's a pain in the hole having to hold the handle in whilst 40 litres is put into the tank.

I only know of one small petrol place that still has theirs working properly.

Seth Brundle

I think it is because some idiots forgot they were filling petrol or something.

littlejukka

i've only ever seen them on the odd diesel pump. most motorists are too stupid to use them safely. 40 litres might take 90 seconds to pump at the longest. if your fragile little hands can't bear the pressure of this i'd imagine holding a steering wheel or using a gear lever might be too much for you and you (and the rest of us) would be better off if you get a taxi home and forget about your motoring career.

Our man in Havana

I like to do other things whilst getting petrol like cleaning the headlights etc. Your abusive comments are not welcome!

Lorax

Didnt even know such a thing existed! Ive only been driving about 8 months tho

maidhc

Put a wedged shape piece of wood in the boot.

Problem solved.

Our man in Havana

they were standard issue and still are in most parts of the world except Ireland.

Our man in Havana

maidhc wrote:

Put a wedged shape piece of wood in the boot.

Problem solved.

Thanks for the tip, maidhc.

Seth Brundle

1st and last ban warning littlejukka

maidhc

Bond-007 wrote:

Thanks for the tip, maidhc.

We have our own tap at home without a stop and without a plastic grip. It gets bloody freezing in the winter and can take 15 mins to fill a tractor.

patrickc

its very rare to find them now... it's a nuisance i agree with the OP

Mahatma coat

Jaysus, lads lads lads, you will find that the petrol cap that you take out can be used to wedge the handle part in place, I can vouch for this on the 318i, the toyota Landcruiser Diesel (dunno bout the petrols but I would assume its the same) Diesel Nissan patrols, and Ford Falcons, check it out on whatever you drive next time you get fuel, oh and to the OP, 40L, Pah, I scoff in your general direction, the Landcruiser has been kitted out for the Ausie Outback and takes 160L a pop (2 long range tanks), and often you can come close to runnin dry between servos

fletch

Yeh I fill my car every time and some pumps can give ya a right pain in the hand! I have never found a garage that has a hold-on device on the pumps.

Gatster

I think it is because some idiots forgot they were filling petrol or something

most motorists are too stupid to use them safely

All the ones I've ever used abroad stop filling on their own when the tank is full, so I don't think there is any issue there. Very useful if you have a big tank

kippy

Hmmm,
Most places I use (in Galway) seem to have them....
The auto cut out mechanism on them usually stops any spills happening but they should be used with care anyway.
Kippy

Stephen

I've only ever seen them on the continent, very handy though.

endplate

Gatster wrote:

All the ones I've ever used abroad stop filling on their own when the tank is full, so I don't think there is any issue there. Very useful if you have a big tank

If you hold the nozzle at an angle sometimes the cut off fails and you have fuel spilling or if you park on the wrong side of the pump ie you have to stretch the fuel line accross the car the nozzle can sometimes be upsidedown and cut off can fail to work. Unfortunatly it's not fool proof and I think the handle locks might have been disabled for that reason.

I was filling a tractor once and it had the handle lock with no cut off. It started to overfill and my reaction was to pull the nozzle out and it made a mess cos I wasn't used to using it

furtzy

Got covered in diesel with a faulty cut-out on a pump in the Maxol garage at Palmerstown....very wary of them now

crosstownk

I contacted Statoil about this some time ago. Aparently it is illegal for Irish filling stations to have this locking mechanism. I never investigated further, and tbh, I'd actually like to know why, as every other EU country I've been to has them working. I must try and dig out the Statoil email and post the contents. It's on my computer at home so I'll post it later..................

Sam Vimes

woule it not be open to 15 year old gob****es to mess with? before you build anything in ireland that will used by the public you have to think "will some idiot destroy this for the laugh".

or does someone in the office have to activate the pump or something? that'd really be the only way to get rid of the scumbag factor

fletch

Commander Vimes wrote:

woule it not be open to 15 year old gob****es to mess with?

You could say that exact same about a pump without it.

Gatster

It probably would/could go catastrophically wrong - never had any problems myself and nearly always use the facility if it's there, but still watch it...

unklerosco

crosstownk wrote:

I contacted Statoil about this some time ago. Aparently it is illegal for Irish filling stations to have this locking mechanism. I never investigated further, and tbh, I'd actually like to know why, as every other EU country I've been to has them working. I must try and dig out the Statoil email and post the contents. It's on my computer at home so I'll post it later..................

Strange... All the truck pumps have em, i just click it n get back into the truck till its done.

I'd like to see pumps with preset payments. Put the pump in n press €5,10,15,20,30,40 n it does it automatically.... I've seen pumps in spain that do it..

fletch

Aside: What do people do when they want to fill their car at a prepay pump and are using a credit card to pay. I always fill my car so can't prepay as such. The last time the guy insisted I leave my credit card with him while I filled. Needless to say I wasn't very happy!

craichoe

I never leave anyone fill my car,

Ever since the whole incident of some 16 year old filling my bike ... then saying .. sorry .. i bent your key .. its stuck in the lock ..

Lucky i had my toolkit with me !

Cormic

unklerosco wrote:

I'd like to see pumps with preset payments. Put the pump in n press €5,10,15,20,30,40 n it does it automatically.... I've seen pumps in spain that do it..

That is a great idea. I like to see this too.

MAYPOP

unklerosco wrote:

I'd like to see pumps with preset payments. Put the pump in n press €5,10,15,20,30,40 n it does it automatically.... I've seen pumps in spain that do it..

Esso and Jet used to have these back in the day, very handy indeed.

MarkR

That's actually been buggin me for a while, I fill up 2-3 times a week and I always check to see if it has one, but not yet! All petrol though, maybe i'd have more luck with diesel..

mickjohnlong

afaik its something to do with fire safety as in if the pump handle falls out of the car and the hold on is still on the petrol will just keep pumping out but i could be wrong i heard that from someone who use to own a petrol station

dak

Some Garages in Ireland had petrol pumps with a locking mechanism 25 years ago . I did my stint on the pumps one summer and they were very handy. They cut off automatically as soon as the tank is full. There probabley is a safety issue if they fell onto the ground and continued pumping but that could only most likely happen if you drove off with the pump attached I guess

netwhizkid

I have never come across these in Ireland yet, but they are handy; I have seen them in New York a few times. But the whole Gas Station culture is much different over there. You must pay before filling first and say $20 of gas is all that will be pumped or whatever amount you bought. Just put in the nozzle and and put on the clicky and away it goes.

I remember "back in the day" at about 12 or 13 when my parents used to drive a Diesel car (before they got company vehicles) and usually on a Sunday evening I was given the job of filling the car as we had a 1,000ltr Tank of Diesel for Bulk Buying. Anyway when the Tank would start going low it often took nearly an hour to fill the Car as it would be trickling away slower than you'd p*ss nearly as it was only gravity flow.

Anyway I'd always wedge in a special rectangle of Iron I had for the Job which was actually a massive washer of something. Problem solved and you'd hear the gurgling as it was filling. I'd first test how long it would take to fill a litre into a milk bottle and multiply the seconds by 60litres as was the Car tank size and set a baking timer to go off then. The ingenuity of a 12 yrs old

flanzer

unklerosco wrote:

Strange... All the truck pumps have em, i just click it n get back into the truck till its done.

I'd like to see pumps with preset payments. Put the pump in n press €5,10,15,20,30,40 n it does it automatically.... I've seen pumps in spain that do it..

I did a bit of night driving across the States and they have a prepay mechanism where you pay your amount first, head to the pump and the pump automatically stops when you get to that amount. Obviously stop people over-fillign and driving off......Typical of this country. We're way behind in technology :mad:

Saruman

It might be becase they can be dagerous. If you leave it to fill then get back into your car and get back out to take out the pump... if you are also wearing synthetic clothing like say nylon tracksuit then chances are you have a buildup of static and you run the risk of causing a fire.
This is were the mobile phone causing a fire myth came from. Its why you do not have it happen here but in the US its very common for fires to occur this way.

The only way to be safe is once you get back out of the car to touch any metal part of the car well away from the fuel pump.

michaelanthony

This is a bit off topic. Why do petrol stations turn off pumps and put reserve tank signs on them. In some petrol stations, there is a big queue and half the pumps are closed. It's very annoying.

prospect

flanzer wrote:

I did a bit of night driving across the States and they have a prepay mechanism where you pay your amount first, head to the pump and the pump automatically stops when you get to that amount. Obviously stop people over-fillign and driving off......Typical of this country. We're way behind in technology :mad:

I used that system in the states also, and I hated it. I am so glad we don't have to resort to this sort of dumbing down, idiot proofing system the Yanks need. See, there's more than one way to look at everything.

Beady

Saruman wrote:

It might be becase they can be dagerous. If you leave it to fill then get back into your car and get back out to take out the pump... if you are also wearing synthetic clothing like say nylon tracksuit then chances are you have a buildup of static and you run the risk of causing a fire.
This is were the mobile phone causing a fire myth came from. Its why you do not have it happen here but in the US its very common for fires to occur this way.

The only way to be safe is once you get back out of the car to touch any metal part of the car well away from the fuel pump.

Correct! See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhURamX6VU

It's only in the last few years that the hold switches have been disabled here. They're still on most diesel pumps as diesel doesn't give off the volatile vapours that petrol does.

vorbis

I much prefer the "Yanks" system for petrol stations. You can swipe your debit / credit card at the pump, then fill up your tank and thats it! no need to head into the shop.

Stephen

michaelanthony wrote:

This is a bit off topic. Why do petrol stations turn off pumps and put reserve tank signs on them. In some petrol stations, there is a big queue and half the pumps are closed. It's very annoying.

A petrol station normally has a number of underground tanks which feed certain pumps. When the level of fuel in a tank gets below a certain level they disable the pumps drawing from this tank, as the system will get airlocked if the tank is emptied, so will be a pain in the ass to get going again when its filled.

Phibsboro

Just to confirm that the previously mentioned trick of sticking the petrol cap into handle works for a mini too. Most garages in the States have working clips and will also accept credit cards at the till. An interesting side effect of the credit card thing is that they have very undeveloped garage shops cos almost no-one ever goes into them - yanks are amazed at the centra type shops we have at our filling stations. When Tesco first opened stations in Dublin they took credit cards at the pump but this only lasted for a few months - I reckon cos of the amount of fraud rather than to get people into the shop. With the full introduction of pin and chip hopefully they'll bring em back.

C

seamus

Having been filling cars with petrol in some capacity over the last ten years, I can safely say I've never ever seen one of these in Ireland. Maybe they had them a long time back (or country stations would tend to use them due to larger volumes of commercial traffic?).

As Saruman points out they present a significant fire hazard, particularly in cars. In theory they'd be nice, but it's rare enough that I encounter one of those painfully slow-filling pumps.

I've never understood the logic of only filling your car with €5 or €10. You're going to use it, why not fill it up to the brim?

testicle

As an aside on this, why isn't C&P standard world wide? I can't use my C&P visa for buying in france, I have to sign for it, because their C&P is different. Gets annoying buying fuel at night, when the manual pumps are closed.

event

we own a garage and only one of you petrol pumps has a working one. The others have broken over the years

the cut off doesnt always work, sometimes depending on which way its held or put into the tank it gets around it and can end up going everywhere.

putting the petrol cap in to jam it isnt recommended, ive seen tehm getting jammed and causing a lot of hassle to get out.

can ye not just hold it?

littlejukka

event wrote:

can ye not just hold it?

too much hassle, apparently.

crosstownk

crosstownk wrote:

I contacted Statoil about this some time ago. Aparently it is illegal for Irish filling stations to have this locking mechanism. I never investigated further, and tbh, I'd actually like to know why, as every other EU country I've been to has them working. I must try and dig out the Statoil email and post the contents. It's on my computer at home so I'll post it later..................

From: statoil@statoil.com
Subject: Re: "Customer Service / Comments"
Date: 26 Bealtaine 2006 17:03:16 ASÉ

Thank you for your e-mail.
My apologies for only getting back to now.
Your query appears to be about nozzle clips. There is a latching clip on
the handle of dispensing nozzles that can be fitted to latch the handle in
the open position.
It is common to see these in parts of Europe and the US where they are
permitted.
It is however, illegal in Ireland to have these installed on dispensers of
class I petroleum product (Unleaded).
This is as per S.I. No. 311, Dangerous Substances Regulations, 1979, Part
II, Paragraph 43.

Therefore it is company policy to remove these from all pumps, across all
products, on Statoil Ireland forecourts.
This is performed as a safety measure to reduce the likelihood of
accidental spillages during use.

Thank you again for your query and hopefully this answer is to your
satisfaction.

Kind regards,

Triin



That's a response I got from Statoil last year.

Pete67

Usually the clip is still in place, but the pin it latches onto has been removed. You will see the hole where the pin used to be.

Should be a simple matter to find a pin of the right diameter and stick it on your keyring......

Our man in Havana

crosstownk wrote:

From: statoil@statoil.com
Subject: Re: "Customer Service / Comments"
Date: 26 Bealtaine 2006 17:03:16 ASÉ

Thank you for your e-mail.
My apologies for only getting back to now.
Your query appears to be about nozzle clips. There is a latching clip on
the handle of dispensing nozzles that can be fitted to latch the handle in
the open position.
It is common to see these in parts of Europe and the US where they are
permitted.
It is however, illegal in Ireland to have these installed on dispensers of
class I petroleum product (Unleaded).
This is as per S.I. No. 311, Dangerous Substances Regulations, 1979, Part
II, Paragraph 43.

Therefore it is company policy to remove these from all pumps, across all
products, on Statoil Ireland forecourts.
This is performed as a safety measure to reduce the likelihood of
accidental spillages during use.

Thank you again for your query and hopefully this answer is to your
satisfaction.

Kind regards,

Triin



That's a response I got from Statoil last year.

The relevant piece of SI 311 of 1979

44. Subject to any conditions attached to a licence, every hose through which petroleum Class I is dispensed by a self-service pump to the fuel tank of a vehicle shall be equipped with a nozzle so designed, constructed or arranged that—


( a ) no stop or catch on the nozzle is capable of keeping the nozzle valve open to permit delivery of petroleum and to eliminate manual control,


( b ) the nozzle valve cannot be kept open to permit delivery of petroleum other than by manual pressure and closes automatically to prevent delivery of petroleum immediately manual pressure is released,


( c ) it is provided with an effective automatic shut-off device to prevent spillage caused by splash-back or obstruction in or overfilling of the fuel tank of a vehicle or container,


( d ) the maximum flow-rate to operate the automatic shut-off device to prevent delivery of petroleum shall not exceed 45 litres per minute,


( e ) after the shut-off device of the nozzle has been activated, it is not possible to re-commence delivery to the fuel tank without first returning the nozzle control lever to the "off" position.

I guess my local petrol station is being naughty.

crosstownk

Only if it works on a petrol pump - no problem with the "nozzle clip" working on a diesel pump. But Statoil (and others, probably), remove the device from all pumps.

unkel

Beady wrote:

It's only in the last few years that the hold switches have been disabled here

Thanks Beady! Thought I was losing my sanity there. I was getting very confused with all the posters that weren't aware of the hold switches ever working here in Ireland. Until about 2-3 years ago, most petrol stations had it. I might be off a few years timewise, but I am sure about the lock

My current car has an 85l tank, my previous car had an 80l
tank. I rarely refill till the light comes on. It takes several minutes to refill those big tanks. It was way easier back then...

Edit: only seeing those regulations now. I'm convinced those "nozzle clips" were widely available until a few years ago

crosstownk

unkel wrote:

Until about 2-3 years ago, most petrol stations had it. I might be off a few years timewise, but I am sure about the lock

I remember these locks not working in the late 1990s (the regulations have been around since 1979). Specifically because the service station next door to the garage had one 'sly' pump that an operational lock

Capt'n Midnight

unklerosco wrote:

Strange... All the truck pumps have em, i just click it n get back into the truck till its done.

I'd like to see pumps with preset payments. Put the pump in n press €5,10,15,20,30,40 n it does it automatically.... I've seen pumps in spain that do it..

and Italy - very handy when they do it 24 Hour out in the sticks.
Stick the notes into the machine and it stops pumping automatically.